Bridge To U:

The purpose of education is to build wealth: social, emotional, mental, spiritual, financial and communal. We are more linked and connected to the struggle of Black people than we understand. If we can get the youth to understand more of their history, who they are, why they behave the way they behave, and why the struggles faced are present, we can change society in a positive way. In this decade of self-reflection, leaders need to embody introspective leadership to make sure we are not demonstrating similar types of oppressive behaviors. 

“We have had a period of decolonization where we started looking at ourselves not as enslaved people but people who had a past that was rich. It is such a link to what is happening in the US and in the Caribbean. We link into that and see it as a vital part of the reparation movement. We have not had a fair chance to build wealth, and that is education. It is important that leaders reflect, introspectively because as leaders, we have to ensure that we have not played a part in our own way of reinforcing these stereotypes with the people that we lead.” ~ Dr. Longsworth

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About Dr. Luz Longsworth

Dr. Luz Longsworth holds a Doctorate in Business Administration in Higher Education Management from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.  She holds a B.A. in French and Spanish (First Class Hons.) and MBA (Marketing) degrees from the University of the West Indies and also holds a Master of Arts degree in Hispanic Studies from Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada.   Dr. Longsworth has over 25 years of experience in both academia and business in Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands (BVI),  Belize and Barbados.  She has held the posts of General Manager of La Moda Export Limited, a garment manufacturing company in Jamaica and General Manager of Amicorp BVI, a financial services company in the BVI.  Her academic career has included lecturing in Spanish Language and Literature as well as in Management subjects at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the University of the West Indies (Mona,  Open Campus and Cave Hill School of Business) and the University of Belize. She has also supervised and examined several student theses at the Masters and Doctoral levels at the UWI and the University of Liverpool.

Dr. Longsworth’s research focus is in the fields of Leadership development, Change Management and Organizational Development and Transformation. She is a certified trainer in Leadership courses in 360 degree Leadership, Communication Skills, Accelerating Teamwork and 5 Levels of Leadership for the internationally renowned John Maxwell Company and in Leadership Embodiment (levels 1 and 2). She has participated in various consulting projects in the areas of:

•Leadership Development

•Strategic Planning

•Improving Communication Skills

•Teambuilding and Development

•Leadership Coaching

•Leadership in Higher Education

•Managing Change and Organizational Transformation

She has facilitated training programmes and workshops across the Caribbean and the United Kingdom including Ernst and Young (Caribbean), LEX (Caribbean), Courts (Belize), NICH (Belize), Belize Telecommunications Limite

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If you have seen humanity at its best, removing divisive thoughts and negative bias is easier. Be able to recognize the moments when you have been helped by strangers that do not have a similar background. Be intentional in imagining yourself in another person’s shoes. Look at the other perspective.  Read the biography and stop over-generalizing. Being highly educated does not mean you are highly informed.

About Dr.Olukunle Iyanda
Dr.Olukunle Iyanda, is a management consultant with over 2 decades of experience in corporate strategy, leadership and people development, emerging technology and innovation, and organizational culture. He is the founder of BROOT consulting, Managing Partner of the Design Thinkers Group, Nigeria where he currently resides, and is a firm proponent and advocate that diversity and inclusion are robust tools for innovation and generating ideas.

He designs and facilitates high energy and captivating capacity development programs for organizations in the area of Design Thinking, Corporate Strategy, Leadership and People Development, Emerging Technology & Innovation Management, and Organisational Culture.

Stay Connected

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Bridge To U is off to a great start, thanks to you! 

As the year comes to a close, reflect on the episodes you've heard and share your biggest insight or learning moment from the 2020. 

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His love for the continent of Africa was born out of being in an environment of toxic hate for his homeland. Having to disguise himself as anything but African in order to get a job, to eat, and survive was a way of life while living in China. His desire to educate about the continent of Africa led him to see for himself the beauty in the countries by going on a self-funded pilgrimage and capturing on video the beauty of the continent. By having the courage to be himself, love himself, and connect to his purpose, he has been able to maintain resilience through the obstacles he faces of building a bridge between black people worldwide.


About Wode Maya

Wode Maya is a popular Ghanaian YouTube personality, vlogger, and aeronautical engineer. Maya began vlogging about life in China where his videos went viral gaining an international audience and attention.

He joined YouTube on January 10, 2013. Wode Maya is Berthold Winkler's stage name. Mr. Ghana Baby, as he is also known professionally, visits multiple African countries vlogging about his travel experiences, the country's culture, and social scene garnering him mainstream media attention. He is a fluent Mandarin Chinese speaker.

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Dethra Giles is a two time TEDx speaker, international keynote, executive coach, and award-winning author that has a track record of taking teams from functioning poorly and top producers.  

In this episode Dethra shares that if you are not growing in your knowledge, you are dying. Start small, easy and fun to begin deepening your connection, and understanding about people that are different from you. In addition she states that language and names hold significant weight in our identity. Be intentional about connecting and learning the language of others.

Snippet from Dethra:

Start small, easy, and fun. Those are my three requirements. Small, easy, and fun. Let me tell you something. International people, not just Jamaicans, international people, when I tell you, we love a good party. There is no easy button for cross-cultural education. It just doesn't exist. But go to a nice party, a nice event, and start to immerse yourself in those cultures. And you'll be amazed at how you're embraced, and how you're given opportunities to create a deeper meaning and a deeper relationship just from that very small surface, party or event, or cultural activity. You will be amazed at how they can lead to a whole new world for you.

Listen to the episode and share your biggest insight or learning moment.

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"When you are happy in your own skin, and stop looking for external approval, you are able to face rejection and still move forward because something bigger and deeper drives you. Performing arts and roles that allow you to learn how to read people can give you an advantage in identifying smoke screen distractions in life. Choose your battles, only fight battles you can win, and learning how to communicate strategically will give you an edge."

A BBC trained journalist and presenter; Dave Crane is an international speaking and presentation expert, working with directors, c-suite executives, celebrities, and public sectors officials. He is a United Nations ECOSOC representative for Vienna, Geneva, and New York, specializing in leadership.

A qualified NLP Master Practitioner and Communications Strategist, NFNLP Hypnotherapist, and stress management expert, Dave has more than 20 years of experience delivering bespoke one-on-one executive public speaking coaching and group media training programs.

A motivational speaker on leadership, communication, digitalization, and the future of work, Dave has over 30 years of experience delivering engaging keynotes, moderating panels, and hosting large scale events at NASA, Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, World Beauty Championship, Samsung FIFA Intercontinental Beach Soccer, World Club 10’s Rugby, Special Olympics World Games 2019, World’s Ultimate Strongman, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Speedcar Series, Legends Rock Dubai Tennis, Dubai Open Tennis, ATD Middle East, GITEX, MICE India & Luxury Travel Congress, Gulf Trade Finance Summit, ICAP CFO Conference and many more.

Listen to the episode and share your biggest insight or learning moment.

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Okama Brooks is the Founder and President of ACHA: Africa Caribbean Heritage Alliance. She is a senior advisor to many national, regional and international government organizations in the areas of development. She is a liaison officer with the United Nations and is passionate about building bridges and reconnecting Africa and the Caribbean heritage. 

In this episode, Okama states:

"When you embed yourself into another person’s physical culture, you take an inside-out approach to providing solutions as opposed to an outside-in approach. This helps to gain buy-in, build trust and reduce harm through assumptions. Understanding through orientation like language immersion, and home-stays foster deeper understanding and appreciation of a person’s culture."

We need to provide context about cultural orientation. Learning about history is important and essential, but in the way forward, learning about who you are through stories, cultural heritage creates empowered states and mindsets. We need to be more vocal about who we are as a people.

Listen to the episode and share your biggest insight or learning moment.

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Gaining knowledge is one thing. Applying what we learn is another. Let’s bring together the previous three episodes from Jessica Reed, Veronica Owusu and Jennifer Tomlinson to expand the teaching and emerging theses.

In this episode, I discuss:

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Or email with feedback or questions: [email protected]

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Those that have the ability to visualize in their brain who they can be and what that looks like tend to experience greater levels of personal success. 

Helping others to see the potential within themselves and create opportunities for people to self-actualize will help them tap into who they can be.

Snippet from Jennifer:

You have to be able to conceptualize your natural talents. It doesn't matter how much someone else tells you you're wonderful, you have these skill sets, these are your natural talents. You have to self actualize it. And so, although I was receiving really positive feedback from my parents, I never self-actualized who I could have been. And so the pathways I chose were the easy pathways, for example, I went to the schools my brothers went to because that was the pathway that they led for me. I listened to my, you know, my elders about what I should do or couldn't do. 

About Jennifer

Jennifer Tomlinson is a college Professor of African American Studies and Interim Dean of Learning Support. As a success coach, she helps people find pathways to their aspirations through her strengths of communication and teaching. 

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Personal development takes time. After hitting rock bottom, Veronica immersed herself in the transformative process of self-discovery. While doing that, her natural gifts and talents were being expressed naturally. Through specific, intentional acts and teaching what she learned along the way, she became a Fearless Warrior, helping others to channel the Fearless Warrior within. 

Veronica Owusu, also known as VPowerCoach is founder of Vpowercoaching.com and The Women On Fire Warrior Academy. She coaches service-based business owners, entrepreneurs and experts to fearlessly build and lead their tribe of high paying clients and have an impact, by creating and launching their online Power Packed Programme in less than 90 days.

Listen to the episode and share your biggest insight or learning moment.

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